iPhone 13 Pro loses bluetooth connection to car 2-8 minutes after starting a phone call

The issue is there since iPhone 12 and 14.4. See https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/672553?page=2

Also there's another thread on Apple forums:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253202253

And yeah I have the problem too. Volvo XC60 2009 and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

For me it started last year with the iPhone 12 on 14.4. then I switched back to the XS Max because of this issue.

My old iPhone XS Max on iOS 15.1 works just fine till this day. So it's not iOS 15 related issue. It's probably just that more people upgraded to newer iPhone's this year.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone had any improvement by going into the bluetooth settings for their vehicle and change the device type to car stereo? I noticed this wasnt set to anything, I set it to car stereo and i have not had a call drop yet. I also have iOS 15.2... I really havent had enough time to test it completely, but I did have a 9 min conversation without it dropping. there was some interference/echoing when I spoke back to the other person... I don't know if that was me or them. Also, they called me, not me calling them... I have a 2017 Toyota Tacoma with the stock premium JBL sound system.

I am having the same issue with calls dropping from Bluetooth speaker while driving and going to my iPhone 13. When I had the iPhone XR this was never an issue. It drives me crazy! I have done all of the above suggestions and nothing has worked. I have a Toyota Sienna. It seems like a lot of people w Toyotas have this issue. Apple please fix this!

The exact same issue that everyone facing it, I have an Audi A6 Avant 2007 and before switching from my iPhone X to iPhone 13 Pro Max I had no issue at all, the iPhone is connected to the Audi Handsfree, I receive calls through the car stereo but when you talk more then 3 ~ 5 minutes the Bluetooth connection drops all of a sudden and after 2 ~ 3 minutes the iPhone 13 Pro Max makes the connection but call is still on iPhone. Updated to iOS 15.1.1 didn’t helped at all. I just wanna grab the iPhone and through it away

Hello,

Apple has a Product Feedback page which would be the best place to provide them with that great troubleshooting information you gathered. Product Feedback - Apple

Out of curiosity does your car support CarPlay and, if so, have you paired the iPhone to it using that setting?

Connect iPhone to CarPlay - Apple Support

That may allow for a better connection with non music apps.

I hope this helps.

I have another suggestion that may help with the issue.

Route and automatically answer calls on iPhone - Apple Support

I have seen this setting help with Bluetooth headphone call audio routing issues but am not super confident that a car’s Bluetooth connection would be seen as a headset.

Answering the call on the iPhone’s screen may be defaulting to use the phone receiver but the audio is forwarding via Bluetooth. iOS may then be disconnecting Bluetooth after the music is paused for a period of time not recognizing the active call.

A manual workaround that could help, if that setting doesn’t, would be answering a call like normal, then tapping Audio to select Bluetooth, while the call is active.

There is a seperate thread also related to this issue. I have been working exclusively with an advisor and have had advanced diagnostic bluetooth logs submitted to apple engineers that I have been waiting to hear back on for about 3 weeks now.

Apple has a serious Bluetooth bug in the 13 and 13 Pro that for some reason they are not acknowledging. I basically cannot use my AirPods or car bluetooth for work calls since it is so unreliable. I witnessed a car accident about a month ago and called 911 using my car bluetooth and had the static/interference noise while talking to the dispatcher. It consistently lasts for about 10-15 seconds.

here is where I have been posting my updates related to all of the Bluetooth issues I have had since I got the 13 Pro in October. I've had my phone replaced and it did not fix it. Definite OS bug between Bluetooth and the "Phone" app.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253245874?answerId=256672428022#256672428022

Hi mahcolo,

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

We edited your post "iPhone 13 keeps disconnecting from car bluetooth" because it contained a poll or a petition. We understand wanting to share experiences, but these forums are meant for technical questions that can be answered by the community.

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Okay…cautiously optimistic…I upgraded to 15.3 and have made 4 calls from my car, plus had a friend call in. Everything seems to be working so far. I will update again in a few days. 

I talked to 4 Apple support people (at different times) plus a support manager and no one admitted they’d heard this issue. Glad it is fixed and hope this doesn’t happen again!

Hi,

Same issue, I have a Nokia CK600 Car kit and I have three iPhone and same problem on all phone (XR, 11 , 11 pro).

The Car kit is have a music play ability, and a phone book management too. Everything is woking properly expect the phone calling. But only one strange thing, the call starting is working properly from the car kit, but when the call has been established the phone is change back the voice to the phone. If I start a call from the iPhone, the car kit is sensing the cal properly but if I try to transfer the voice to the car kit, it is fall back to iPhone without any error message.

I tried the following:

• restart iphone
• restart iphone bluetooth
• restart the car kit
• reset the car kit, and pair ing the phone with car kit
• reset the bluetooth on the iPhone
• reset the network setting on the iphone

But nothing help on the issue.

Pleae let me know if somebody is have a idea what can I do?

Best Regards,

GáborS

I've done a little more experimenting and if you want to be able to talk on your phone while in your vehicle, these steps worked for me.

1. Start your vehicle and allow the phone to connect via Bluetooth. If you go to the next step too early this method won't work.
2. Connect your phone to the vehicle with your charging cable (USB to lightning). This assumes your vehicle has a USB input. This step should change the output on your phone to the "dock" connection.
3. Go into an app where you can select the device that you want to connect to, which will be your vehicle's Bluetooth as the AirPlay device. I usually use Spotify to complete this step.

Once you reconnect to the vehicle's Bluetooth, you should be able to talk without interruption.

These are some other random issues that I have noticed.

1. My steering wheel controls do not work as expected. Sometimes I'll try to end a call with the steering wheel controls and nothing happens.
2. My vehicle's volume control does not work as expected. If I switch from listening to Spotify to scrolling through TikTok, then increase the volume with my vehicle's volume control, the radio switches back to Spotify. This is all while parked, of course. ;-)

In my opinion, this is 100% Apple's issue. I've used my phone in my vehicle without issue until I upgraded to ios15. Please Apple, fix these issues.

I have this exact same problem except I also have issues with spotify randomly stopping through the bluetooth connection and then picking back up sometimes a minute later or other times not at all. I have a 2015 toyota highlander that doesn't have carplay either. No problems with my last iphone 12 pro connecting with my bluetooth. The only reason I upgraded to this version was because of crackling sounds from that model when talking on speaker phone. It is the most frustrating thing ever with apple to have such expensive technology which simply doesn't work the way it should.